


Friends Don't

by FlyRobinFly



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Cute, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Inspired by Music, M/M, friends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21689854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyRobinFly/pseuds/FlyRobinFly
Summary: “You had to have wanted to leave your pack’s get together for a reason. So what happened?”Liam shrugged. “Nothing happened.”Theo raised an eyebrow and huffed. “Then why-”“I just… didn’t feel like being there,” Liam said. “I don’t know.”“You want me to take you home?”Liam shook his head. “No.”“Then where am I taking you?Liam shrugged again.“OK. Something definitely happened, Liam. What is it?”
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 9
Kudos: 227





	Friends Don't

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is inspired the the song "friends don't" by Maddie & Tae

Theo was in the middle of a mediocre conversation with Melissa and Scott in the kitchen when his phone vibrated. As Scott had a brief commentary with his mother about what he needed to buy at the grocery store, Theo casually glanced at the message.

Liam: U wanna get out of here?

There was no telling why Liam wanted to Leave but Theo knew he himself wasn’t a fan of staying around the pack for too long. He’d been there for an hour and he was already tired of walking on eggshells. Apparently, Liam was tired of it too. Too tired to actually come inside from the backyard and tell him that to his face.

Theo quickly texted Liam asking him why. He wondered if there was something wrong.

Theo didn’t receive any text in response so he was dragged back into the conversation. “You wanna come with me?” Scott asked with a hopeful smile.

Theo had been in the middle taking a sip of his beer, one that he was drinking quite illegally. “Theo, is that a beer?” Melissa asked him and now he’d really been caught, looking like a deer in the headlights. He carefully swallowed and set the bottle down on the bar he’d been sitting at.

“No,” he fibbed.

Melissa raised an eyebrow.

“What? It’s not like I can get drunk,” he said with a bit of attitude leaking through his tone. He mumbled at the end very bitterly, “unfortunately.”

“OK, Theo. You’re gonna go help Scott-”

“You ready?” they heard a quiet voice from behind Theo ask.

Theo turned his head and saw Liam looking at him… with a look. Theo examined his expression thoroughly. He was a little bit tense, but he was trying not to be. He was tired and, like always, there was a tinge of anger in his sent. And in his eyes Theo could very vaguely see a hint of “please”.

If Theo could send him a message telepathically, he’d say “me too.” But instead he turned back to Melissa and Scott. “Sorry. Liam has an assignment and I promised I would help him with it.” He was glad he hadn’t lost his ability to lie but with all this “good guy” stuff he was getting rusty.

“OK then,” Melissa said looking to Scott. “I guess we won’t need that extra bag of buns then.”

A few minutes later, Theo and Liam were in Theo’s truck leaving the McCall residency. The drive was silent for a moment but Theo wanted some answers as to why Liam was so eager to leave. “So what happened?”

“Huh?”

“You had to have wanted to leave your pack’s get together for a reason. So what happened?”

Liam shrugged. “Nothing happened.”

Theo raised an eyebrow and huffed. “Then why-”

“I just… didn’t feel like being there,” Liam said. “I don’t know.”

“You want me to take you home?”

Liam shook his head. “No.”

“Then where am I taking you?

Liam shrugged again.

“OK. Something definitely happened, Liam. What is it?” Theo knew Liam pretty good by now. He wasn’t very hard to read. Just by looking at him and his defensive posture he knew someone had said something that upset him.

Liam sighed and shook his head before he hesitatingly admitted, “Stiles… said something about you and it made me upset. And then Mason had to go and agree with him… which pissed me off even more.”

“What did he say?” His self-loathing side got the better of him. He wanted to know.

“It doesn’t matter. The point is I thought that Mason understood that you’re my friend. I didn’t think he’d just go and throw you under the bus like that.”

“Friend?”

Liam looked at him. “Yeah.”

As Theo pulled up to the point where he’d have to decide whether or not to take Liam home the short way or the long way, he slowed and sighed. He supposed there couldn’t really be any other explanation for what they were.

Friends.

But somehow it still didn’t seem right.

Theo clicked his blinker to the left and decided to take the long way home. He took his time, driving slower than the speed limit. They were in no hurry. And since they were taking the long way home, hardly anyone was on the road at this hour.

“So you would rather spend time with me than with your pack?”

“At the moment, yeah.”

“And if I say something to upset you, you’re not gonna go crying back to papa?” Liam fixed a glare on Theo that made him chuckle. “You wanna go do something fun?”

Liam was still a little hurt by the comment but he asked anyways. “Like what?”

“Well, I know that sinema isn’t your scene anymore with all the baggage it carries. But I do know of a bar in town that caters to underaged adults under the table.”

~~~

Needless to say, Liam agreed to go to the bar with Theo even if they were breaking the law. What Theo didn’t tell him was that they served wolfsbane whiskey which is how they both ended up sitting on a curb somewhere downtown all banged up and laughing.

At least, Theo was laughing. “It’s not funny,” Liam said. “Stiles is a jerk.”

“I know. I know, Liam,” Theo insisted. “Trust me. I know Stiles is an asshole. I’ve had to deal with him my fair share but…” He snickered some more. “I can’t stop picturing little baby Liam falling in a hole-”

“I’m not a baby,” Liam whined.

“Oh I know,” Theo said getting serious, a hint of suggestiveness in his voice. “You’re definitely not a baby anymore.” He put an arm around Liam’s shoulder and squished them together. “You’re a big boy now.”

Despite feeling like he is being teased to no end, Liam smiles as he leans into the touch shoving at Theo with his shoulders, which are definitely not baby shoulders by any means. “Stop being an asshole.”

“Oh please,” Theo drawled a smirk on his face. “You know I only do it because I lo-”

The words stopped in Theo’s throat. He knew what he was about to say. Heck, even Liam knew what he was about to say. Theo closed his mouth. Being drunk made it hard to play it cool. He found Liam gawking at him, neither of them smiling. And why did he feel like they were getting closer?

Theo mentally cursed when felt Liam breathing on him, their foreheads clunking together clumsily as their noses met in a chipmunk kiss. Theo sucked in a sharp breath and pulled back. “Sorry.”

Liam started laughing drunkenly as Theo stood abruptly and hauled him to his feet. “Your breath smells,” Liam said stumbling over the curb they’d been sitting on.

“Yours smells like ass,” Theo retorted as he dragged Liam back towards where they’d parked the truck. By the time they got back, the alcohol had been devoured by their metabolisms and they were on their way to feeling the effects of a hangover. Which would only last a few minutes. But it was still painful.

~~~

Theo stood there in Liam’s living room, keys dangling in his fingers. He was ready to go… but he wasn’t ready to leave. He knew it was because of Liam. He’d tried to convince himself it was nothing but every time he looked into Liam’s eyes he knew it was something.

“I uh… better get going,” Theo said. “But I had fun with you tonight.”   
  
Liam smiled. “Me too.”

“So I’ll see you later,” Theo continued. He so didn’t want to leave. Especially when Liam bites his lip and he’s left a little mesmerized for a second.

“Yeah,” Liam finally says. “I owe you a favor after tonight.”

Theo chuckled and shook his head. “You’re the last person that will ever owe me anything, Liam.” The sincerity in his voice was clear. He really meant that Liam would never owe him anything. Liam had already done so much for him over the last few months. 

They stood their in the entryway of Liam’s house in silence, waiting for… something. Or maybe nothing. Maybe they were perfectly fine just standing there staring at each other.

Theo knew he was ok with it. Being up close with Liam was nice. It wasn’t like he wanted to be any closer though, right?

Or did he?   
  
Theo cleared his throat, breaking the silence. “I’ll see you later.”

“Goodnight.” Liam watched him leave, going as far as watching his truck drive all the way down the street before he decided to crash on the couch for the night.

~~~

Theo got to his apartment that he was renting from Derek around midnight. The building was old and often damp but it was sufficient for him. Better than sleeping in his truck… most of the time. It at least kept Liam from worrying about him.

As he made it to the door of his apartment and took out his keys he startled when he heard, “You were out late.”

Theo spun around and stood wide-eyed looking at Derek who was crossing his arms with a playful smirk on his lips. Theo let out a sigh of relief. “Jesus. You scared me.”

Derek gave Theo a once over, carefully observing him. “So… helping Liam with an assignment, huh?”

Theo rolled his eyes. “That’s none of your business,” Theo reminded him as he shoved a key into his lock.

“So you took him to the Honky Tonk.” Theo suppressed an eye roll at how freakishly stalker this guy could be. When he gave Derek the I-don’t-have-time-for-this-I’m-tired look, he noticed the grin on the man’s face. “I think it was a good choice. Sometimes being around the whole pack is a bit exhausting. Especially when Stiles is there to play mother hen.”

Theo shrugged. “I’m just glad I could get out of running to the store with Scott.”

Derek smiled. “I’m glad you had fun. Go get some sleep.”

“You too, weirdo,” Theo said as he opened the door of his apartment.

“Actually, I’m heading out for a flight right now. I’ve gotta be in Venezuela this weekend,” Derek said.

“Oh. You’re leaving right now?” Theo asked.

“Yeah.”

“Auburn?”

“Yeah.”

“You need a ride? I’m not working until late tomorrow so I can-”

“You don’t have to. I was just going to pay for parking.”

“No. Don’t worry about it. I like driving around at night.” Eventually, Derek agreed to letting Theo drive him to the airport in Auburn. They got some fast food on the way out of town while they had that easy conversation they tended to have since Derek didn’t harbour any negative feelings about Theo like a lot of the pack did.

On the way there, Derek ended up getting Theo to open up about some of his future plans. Somehow, all of them had something to do with Liam. Derek never pointed it out but he probably noticed it.

Theo didn’t wait with Derek for long. He just made sure he was checked in before he said goodbye and left. Once he shut the driver’s door and started the car, warming it up, his phone began to ring. He wondered who could possibly be calling him at this hour.

Liam… of course.

“Hello?”

“... hey.”

Liam’s voice was low, quiet, like maybe he was trying not to be heard around the house. He didn’t sound like he was in any kind of danger.

“Is everything ok?”

“Yeah. Everything is fine,” Liam said.

Theo looked at the clock. He hadn’t realized how long the drive to Auburn would take. “It’s three in the morning, Liam. What’s up?”

“... nothing. I just… “

Theo heard Liam let out a heavy sigh on the other side of the line. “Do you need something?” Theo tried. He liked hearing his voice. Even hearing the faint beat of his heart through the phone was nice.

“Uh… did I wake you up? I thought you were going to be asleep.”

“No. I’m in Auburn.” Theo heard a faint rustle.

“Theo, why are you in Auburn? That’s like three hours away.” The panic in Liam’s voice was pretty evident. They’d gone through this before. Theo would just skip town on a whim to get away from things and it always pissed Liam off because he never told anyone and he was afraid he wouldn’t come back.

“Relax, Liam,” Theo told him. “I had to take Derek to the airport. I’m heading back to Beacon Hills right now.” The sigh on the other line sounded distressed and hurt. And stressed. “Why did you call, Liam?”

“ … do I need a reason to hear your voice?”

And that was it.

That was when Theo knew that they weren’t friends. Maybe they were in a sense of the word. But friends don’t do the stuff they did tonight.

They do.

But friends don’t.

~~~

It was now six in the morning and Theo hadn’t slept a wink. He was exhausted but he wasn’t ready to go to bed. He was on a mission.

He didn’t even bother with knocking as he barged into the Geyer house. “Liam!”

As if it were a command, Liam sat up straight on the couch he’d crashed on for the night, eyes finding Theo in an instant. “Theo? What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk,” Theo said making his way around the couch to sit next to Liam. Suddenly, he had lost his momentum. He’d been so dead set on talking with Liam about this issue for the whole three hours it took to drive there but now he had cold feet.

“What’s going on?” Liam asked after a moment of silence. “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah,” Theo said as if it were obvious. “You called me. In the middle of the night.”

Liam pursed his lips and evaded from eye contact for a moment, a guilty look on his face. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and his shoulders became taught. “Uh… about that-”

“With no other reason than to say ‘hi’,” Theo continued.

“Look. If it’s about that the-”

“Last night we cancelled plans with your pack-”

“Our pack.”

“-because you got upset when Stiles said something about me.”

“Why is th-”

“Stop interrupting me!” Theo barked. Ok. So he was being a little harsher than he wanted to when having this conversation but, in his defense, he was tired and hungry and, not to mention, in love.

“...” Liam sat there, hands folded over his knees, cheeks a little pink.

“I don’t know why we keep lying to ourselves, Liam, but we’re not friends. I’m not sure we ever were.” Theo saw the way that broke Liam a little; he never meant to hurt him. But Theo was new to this. “Last night when we were sitting on the curb drunk off our asses, I almost told you that I love you but friends don’t do that, Liam.”

Liam looked up at Theo with a frown on his face, a bit of his IED kicking in involuntarily. “What are you saying, Theo?”

“Last night when I dropped you off, I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to go back to my apartment all alone. I wanted to be with you. In fact, I was trying to come up with whatever excuse that I didn’t have to leave cause I wanted to be with you. When I was driving Derek to the airport, we talked. And you know what I talked about? I talked about you and us and our future and, Liam, friends don’t do that!-”

“But we do!” Liam finally said in a burst of rage standing up, Theo quickly copying his actions defensively. Theo hadn’t even noticed his defensiveness until Liam forced away his involuntary anger and softened his exterior with a sigh. “We do, Theo.” They stared at each other for a moment, quietly. Until Theo pulled his phone out and started typing away at something. Liam was nearly crying, tears in his eyes already. “Theo, what are you doing?” he said, hurt in his voice, fear, worry.

Theo locked his phone and tossed it on the coffee table. “Setting a reminder for work.”

“Why?-”

Theo grabbed Liam by his face and kissed Liam. Finally! He kinda wished he’d waited until he wasn’t angry and tired but Liam wasn’t easy to shut up. He pulled away. “Because I was up all night and I’m tired.”

“Me too,” Liam said resting his forehead against Theo’s.

“I’m gonna crash here.”

Liam shook his head as he hauled Theo up to his feet and grabbed his phone. “You can crash in my room, on a bed. Ok?”

Theo sighed. “Fine.” He took his phone from Liam and started for the stairs only for Liam to grab his wrist and tug him backward.

“Theo,” he said, pulling Theo close, bumping their noses together just like that night before when they were drunk. “I love you too.”

The Chimera smiled as he leaned towards Liam’s warmth. “Does that mean we’re done being friends?”

Liam pressed forward and plastered their lips together in a warm, soft kiss. “Does that answer your question?”

“I think so.”


End file.
